An 11 year old mother?
Henry Sutliff
and his wife Joan, dau. of Sir Richard Lovel, left two daughters and
heiresses at his death, Muriel and Isabel.
Isabel is shown to have been born at Marnhull, Dorset on 31 May 1326.
(with caveat other than CIPM of father that she may have been 13 or more
in Sep. 1337) She married without license William de Botreaux of
Boscastle, Cornwall bef. 30 Aug. 1337.
CPII: 241 [Botreaux] shows son and heir William de Botreaux b. 1 Sep
1337 in Lanreath, Cornwall. This date if the CIPM of Isabel's father is
accepted, would make Isabel 11 years old at birth of her son.
Should not the year of Isabel's birth in 1326 be discounted from the
CIPM in favor of an earlier date (1324) as suggested in the CFR in
footnote?
Henry Sutliff
G . EDWARD ALLEN
G . EDWARD ALLEN
Sorry, I hit the wrong key and it took off before I had written anything
:-(
Heiresses, if they were married at their father's death to someone who
was of age, were considered of age and their proofs of age in an IPM are
not as exact as if they were unmarried and underage, as the king had
notheing to gain and the family had nothing to loose by an inexactitude
of age.
Kay Allen AG
Dcrdcr4
The jurors behind the IPM's often gave a child's age as 7 in one case or 8 in
another. Such inaccuracies on common in IPM's. In this case, you are
probably dealing with a girl who gave birth at 13 not 11.
On the flip side, people sometimes inflated their age so they could obtain
their lands early. Likewise, I recently read the case of a certain John de
Beauchamp who claimed he was 21 at marriage to avoid some legality arising over
his marriage as a minor. As best they can determine, John was not 21 at his
marriage and lied to conceal this fact. This is discussed in some detail in
John's biography by Roskell's multi volume set on Members of Parliament. In
medieval times, age, like beauty, was somewhat in the eye of the beholder.
Jon Meltzer
>Hi Hap:
>
>The jurors behind the IPM's often gave a child's age as 7 in one case or 8 in
>another. Such inaccuracies on common in IPM's. In this case, you are
>probably dealing with a girl who gave birth at 13 not 11.
>
>On the flip side, people sometimes inflated their age so they could obtain
>their lands early.
Or, get into the local pub. :-)